What Does It Mean to Be a US Citizen - Essay Sample

Introduction

A US citizen means a participatory member of the political community within the United States. For a person to become a US citizen, the government highlights that a person can acquire citizenship by either birth or naturalization (Kerwin & Warren, 2019). Through birth, a person can become a citizen if they are born within the territorial limits of the US. Naturalization occurs when a person migrates and apply for citizenship within the country. In this case, the United States citizen enjoys a lot of benefits and obligations that the government has set toward improving the living standards (Kerwin & Warren, 2019). For instance, a US citizen is granted the right for better health, education, and other benefits, which are not available to other individuals. However, the definition of US citizen continues to change due to numerous approaches set on its acquisition. As such, more requirements aspects have been introduced, and this has changed the definition. Additionally, legal status is another crucial approach that has altered the explanation of citizenship (Kerwin & Warren, 2019). In particular, legal status focuses on how Supreme Court confers citizenship, which affects their political jurisdiction.

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Redistricting

Redistrictto is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries with the US. As a way of enhancing the process, the electronic agency revises the geographic boundaries of a region by reviewing the data submitted to the state, especially after census have been conducted (Edwards et al., 2017). The process was first approved by Congress in 1967 (Edwards et al., 2017). The law stated that representatives must be elected from a single-member district. In most cases, redistricting is conducted when a state that has a single representative has a large population (Edwards et al., 2017). The approach gives a representative an opportunity to understand more about the challenges affecting the residents. Depending on the state, redistricting is based on compactness, contiguity, equal population, racial fairness, and other features associated with citizens’ needs.

The introduction of redistricting has been associated with numerous aspects that affect the election. In particular, the process affects the number of leaders elected to represent a particular region in Congress (Edwards et al., 2017). For instance, if the population of an area is high, redistricting may trigger the government to subdivide the region, and this introduces more representative who is elected. Additionally, the process is associated with the elimination of challenges, which gives people from different racial groups to be elected (Edwards et al., 2017). For example, in 2003, the redistricting gave Latino voters an opportunity to elect their own representative, which was a major move in improving their living condition (Edwards et al., 2017). In this case, redistricting affect political power, which is an integral aspect of the election.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a US immigration policy that allows particular persons with unlawful presence in the country after being brought as children who then receive a renewable two year time of delayed act from expulsion (Amuedo-Dorantes & Antman, 2016). The approach gives these individuals the permit to work and engage in other activities within the country. However, DACA does not guarantee individuals for citizenship. The policy was introduced in 2012 by President Barack Obama (Amuedo-Dorantes & Antman, 2016). For a person to be eligible for the program, they must present a misdemeanor record about their status. As a way of enhancing the approach, Barack Obama announced the expansion of DACA to cover the undocumented immigrants within the country (Amuedo-Dorantes & Antman, 2016). However, the approach highly experienced resistance from several states, and this affected its expansion. In Trump Administration, the government introduced a plan to remove the program, but this triggered several lawsuits challenging the action.

In recent years, DACA has highly been associated with political influence, and this has led to contest issues. These issues have been activated by a large number of DACA recipients within districts (Amuedo-Dorantes & Antman, 2016). As such, the program has triggered the government to set more fund that is meant to control illegal immigration. As a way of controlling the issue, political leaders experience challenges in establishing policies associated with DACA as the government needs to look for an extra fund to increase border securities (Amuedo-Dorantes & Antman, 2016). Additionally, the approach of DACA has triggered political division between Democrats and Republicans as they fight for legal status of immigrants.

Intersectionality

In political development, the concept of intersectionality has been a key aspect that is deployed in recognizing how an individual focuses on intersecting identities, communities, and social in/justice (Gkiouleka et al., 2018). In this case, the approach concentrates on analyzing how a particular act and policies address the issues of social inequalities that numerous groups within a country experience (Gkiouleka et al., 2018). As a way of eliminating political injustice within the country, political leaders are required to focus on aspects such as race, class, gender, geography, and other aspects within the society (Gkiouleka et al., 2018). As such, intersectionality is a crucial aspect that political leaders use in solving the existing issues within a community (Gkiouleka et al., 2018). Additionally, the application of intersectionality assists leaders in concentrating on numerous differences and complex realities by identifying the strengths and weaknesses when implementing policies (Gkiouleka et al., 2018). For instance, through the application of intersectionality, leaders are able to engage people from different groups, and this promotes support, thus, reducing any form of resistance when implementing political policies (Gkiouleka et al., 2018). The approach helps leaders to effectively incorporate numerous groups when making political policies, which promotes collaboration within communities.

Conclusion

For many years, the United States was highly affected by the issue of racial discrimination. In particular, African Americans were subjected to racial discrimination, and this triggered the establishment of the civil movement (Cole, 2019). These movements were meant to push for equal rights for all people within the United States. As a way of controlling the issue of discrimination, the government established the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Cole, 2019). The law was meant to control segregation in public places and eliminate employment discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, and much more. The establishment of the rule assisted the government in controlling slavery, which had been a key challenge that affects black people within the country (Cole, 2019). As such, most people who were subjected to slavery were set free, and this was a major aspect that leads to black freedom (Cole, 2019). Due to the issue of slavery and racial discrimination, the country was associated with a lot of violence. However, through the establishment of the law, the government was able to control discrimination violence, especially in the south part (Cole, 2019). Through the introduction of the law, African Americans were given a chance to elect their representative who could assist in pushing their needs (Cole, 2019). Therefore, blacks were granted the right to vote and elect individuals who could represent their grievances and push for a better life.

References

Amuedo-Dorantes, C., & Antman, F. (2016). Can authorization reduce poverty among undocumented immigrants? Evidence from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Economics Letters, 147, 1-4. https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/145279/1/dp10145.pdf

Cole, J. P. (2019). Civil rights at school: Agency enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. CRS report R45665, version 5. Congressional Research Service.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED597849.pdf

Edwards, B., Crespin, M., Williamson, R. D., & Palmer, M. (2017). Institutional control of redistricting and the geography of representation. The Journal of Politics, 79(2), 722-726.

Gkiouleka, A., Huijts, T., Beckfield, J., & Bambra, C. (2018). Understanding the micro and macro politics of health: Inequalities, intersectionality & institutions-A research agenda. Social Science & Medicine, 200, 92-98. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795361830025X

Kerwin, D., & Warren, R. (2019). Putting Americans first: A statistical case for encouraging rather than impeding and devaluing US citizenship. Journal on Migration and Human Security, 7(4), 108-122. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0966369X.2017.1372381?casa_token=XdgsYQmyrIQAAAAA:0z8TL4DJMbn52PNOuOxo89BDNqYqstW9SSDA3Ht60ZGJZiQAlXwn2IwbVoMwAAGYhHJhBm73GiiDSp1E

Ware, S. (2019). Why they marched: Untold stories of the women who fought for the right to vote. Belknap Press.